Saturday, 25 February 2012

The C Team has stayed mean by first losing at home to Macc C and then winning away six days later. Following the scoresheets and a few words from me are two accounts of epic games sent by Edwin and Andy W (thank you, Microsoft, for 'cut and paste'). Grades are ECF half-way where available; U/G = ungraded (Macc website).

East Cheshire C (Home) vs Macclesfield C, 15 February 2012

1. A Buckley (100) 0 R Pomeroy (140)1

2. I Vaughan (84) 0 R Murphy (135) 1

3. E Cooke (65 est) 1 D Mallinson (U/G) 0

4. Q Mohammed (52 est) 0 T Robson (74) 1

5. R Burrows (53) 0.5 A Howe (50) 0.5

Total East Cheshire C 1.5 Macclesfield C 3.5

Macclesfield C (Home) vs East Cheshire C (Away), 21 February 2012

1. Alan Sime (109) 0.5 Paul Bamford (134) 0.5

2. Tom Robson (74) 0 Andy Buckley (100) 1

3. David Styles (U/G) 1 Edwin Cooke (65 est) 0

4. Matthew Wade (U/G) 0 Andrew Walker (78)1

5. Angie Howe (50) 0 Roy Burrows (53) 1

Total Macclesfield C 1.5 East Cheshire C 3.5

Congratulations to both Roy and Andy W on their return to matchplay, with points.

Edwin writes:

Another swashbuckling affair from Mr Delmonte (tonight's personal pseudonym), proving there is actually more to life than oranges and tinned peaches.

A fairly standard opening left me in an unsatisfactory position where his king was neatly tucked away on the queen sideand mine was exposed in the middle. But hey! It was my go, time to light the touch paper! Since there was a lot of space, I tried to swap his bishop for a knight, thus living me the power of two bishops on the diagonals. I quickly followed this up by pushing his knights into defensive positions making them redundant before launching a salvo of heavily supported prawns to almost queen.It worked! God knows how, but outside in the fresh air afterwards The Man From Delmonte, he says, "Yes!"

Definitely a food theme here - I like the heavily supported prawns: Ed.

Andy W writes:

Sure I felt nervous, it had been over 18 months since my last match win and only my second match of the season.

The kid facing me looked edgy in a cool kind of way. I sensed he was keen for some action and up for the fight.

1. I punched the clock and he opened 1.e4... confident and matter of fact. I licked my lips nervously, considered the Sicilian but played safe with ...e5. I pushed the button on the clock.2. Without hesitation he

played 2.Bc4... and it was back to me. I sat and looked at the board for a good 2 minutes hoping the throb in my temples was going to subside. I retorted with a nice safe ...Nf6 (Berlindefence) and pushed the time button.The nerves were starting to ease.3. He played 3.Bxf7+... with a confidence that sent my head into a spin.... what!! Another 3 minutes passed as I evaluated his gambit - this was new territory for me. What had I missed? I had no choice but to reply ...Kxf7 so losing the ability to castle and pushing my king off the back row... and I was already 5 minutes off the pace and feeling very vulnerable and not at all comforted by having a material advantage.

4. He played Nc3... which seemed a bit off beam to me as 4.Qf3... or 4.Nf3... would have put pressure on my exposed king. Still, feeling somewhat defensive in the face of such aggression I played ...c6 to block the advance of his knight.

5. Nf3... as expected and I played ...Bd6 to open my back row, develop the bishop and defend e5. Maybe ...d6 would have been better??

6. d4...Re8. I saw this as an opportunity to get the king behind the rook and also to strengthen my control of the centre An exchange follows:7. Pxe5 ... Bxe58. Nxe5 ... Rxe5 to leave me reasonably in control of the centre with the rook out very early and pinning d4, and still with a material advantage... I was now starting to think 3.Bxf7+... was bluster on behalf of my opponent as I couldn't see any advantage to his gambit at this point.9. Qf3 ... D510. 0-0 ... Kf8 I felt that my king was now safe and his unusual aggressive opening had come to nought.11. With the king released from the pin he now made the error of Rd1... to bring pressure on d5but my reply of ...Bg4 gave him something to think about as my bishop pinned his queen to his rook!At this point I thought the game was turning in my favour and I now made up the time deficit.12. Not wanting to back down, he played Qg3... to threaten the rook exchange. I declined with ...Nd7 so developing my pieces further.13. Re1... moves his rook to safety and I made the decision to attack king's side and replied with ...Qe814. He's not beat yet and played Qf4... (I felt that Bf4 may have been better) I replied ...Qg615. g3... (?? I think f3 would have been better) ... Rf8 signals my firm commitment to the king's side attack 16. Qd2 ... Bh3 that'll be useful later!17. b3 (??) ... Rf718. Ba3 (??) and then my attack commences with ...Nxe419. Nxe4 ... Rxe4 20. Rxe4 ... Qxe4 mate in 1 and he should have resigned at this point 21. f3 (??) ... Qxf3 22. Bb2 ... Qf1+ 23. Rxf1 ... Rxf1+ and mate.

So despite the shaky start, it was a tense game and I won through in the end....phew!

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

We slightly out-rated our opposition for a change and wins for Dave N and I saw us scrape to a 3.5-2.5 victory.

1. Y Kolodiy (178) 0.5-0.5 J Reed

Sadly for John his opponent did not play the Queen's Gambit but - obviously scarred by his previous defeat - tried a Benoni. John seemed to have a nice position with extra space and pressure against some weak pawns when Yaroslav unleashed a fearsome combination which ended in a drawn endgame.

2. K Lockett (169) 0-1 P Ramsey

Karl played his favourite English system and I was probably a bit hasty in pushing pawns on my Kingside and ended up with some hanging pawns in the centre. Karl allowed me to consolidate though and missed a couple of tricks in the middlegame which allowed me to win a piece.

3. R White (135) 0-1 D Newall

Dave's Bird's opening resulted in a strong Kingside attack which his opponent was unable to counter.

4. T Tomkins (130) 1-0 D Broadbent

Dave lost a piece early in the middlegame. He then won it back but at the expense of giving his opponent a winning attack.

5. D Hughes (134) 0.5-0.5 K Holton

Keven's Reti opening didn't seem to lead to any pressure and after a quiet game (unless I missed something) a draw was agreed.

6. R Clucas (127) 0.5-0.5 D Taylor

In a rather stodgy French Defence the pieces were swapped off and a draw agreed.

Our goal this season is to score points against Altrincham A and Denton B and finish mid-table so this was a job well done.